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In this first edition, the Natac Awards recognized the work of Héctor Rodríguez López, a researcher at the Dairy Products Institute of Asturias (IPLA-CSIC), in the Established Researcher category, and María de las Nieves Siles Sánchez in the Young Researcher category. Lucía Victoria Cassani Menéndez, from the University of Vigo, received the Runner-up Award in the Established Researcher category.
The Vice President for Scientific and Technical Research at the CSIC, José María Martell, opened the ceremony, highlighting that “these awards are fully aligned with the DNA of the CSIC, Spain’s main engine of innovation.” During his speech, he noted that “these awards symbolize the alliance between science, business, and society,” and advocated for strengthening public-private collaboration as “an essential element in transforming knowledge into real solutions.”
This was one of the key topics discussed during the roundtable entitled “From Science to Society: Transfer, Innovation and Impact,” which featured Ana Castro, Vice President for Innovation and Transfer at the CSIC; Guillermo Álvarez Jiménez, from the CDTI (Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology); and Ana Ramírez de Molina, Director of IMDEA Nutrition. All agreed that the knowledge transfer model has evolved and emphasized the need to strengthen the connection between research, business, and society so that scientific knowledge can be translated into innovation and concrete applications for health and well-being.
José Carlos Quintela, Vice President and co-founder of Natac, closed the awards ceremony by emphasizing that “today we have come to recognize something that often goes unnoticed: behind every breakthrough, every product, every solution that improves our lives, there are years of rigorous and often silent research. These awards are born from a deep conviction: science is the most reliable engine for transforming knowledge into useful solutions for society.”
